Micro Four Thirds, Sony Alpha shooters get new strobe options from Metz and Nissin

If you're looking for a new shoe-mount flash strobe for your Sony Alpha or Micro Four Thirds camera, your options have just expanded thanks to some new third-party offerings.

For Sony Alpha shooters, we hear from the folks at Sony Alpha Rumors that German flash maker Metz is now offering updated versions of its strobes, with a newly-designed foot compatible with the Sony Multi Interface Shoe. Until now, Metz' strobes for Sony cameras came with the company's earlier Auto-Lock Accessory Shoe, a proprietary design that was developed prior to Sony's acquisition of the Minolta camera business. You could still use them on your modern Sony camera, but doing so meant first mounting an Auto-Lock Shoe Adapter accessory.

Now, you'll be able to mount the strobe directly. (But of course, if you have an older Sony camera with Auto-Lock Accessory Shoe, you'll now need an adapter to use the updated strobes. If you've been considering buying a Metz strobe, we'd suggest nabbing one quickly while stock of the earlier designs is still available.)

Metz is updating its Sony-compatible flash strobes with the new Multi Interface Shoe.

For Micro Four Thirds shooters (and their Four Thirds-shooting kinfolk), the new option is Nissin's i40, a compact strobe that launched earlier this year for Canon, Nikon, Sony (with Multi Interface Shoe), and Fujifilm cameras. Now, it's coming to Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds cameras, promising a generous flash output in a small package. Just 3.3 inches tall with the tilt/swivel/zoom bounce head aimed forward, the Nissin i40 nevertheless has a guide number of 27 meters at ISO 100 with 35mm coverage. And for bonus points, it also includes a video light with nine-step brightness control.

Pricing and availability for these new strobes hasn't been announced, but we'd expect them to retail with similar pricetags to existing variants. Metz' strobes for Sony-mount cameras run anywhere between US$145 and US$445 list, depending upon the model. The Nissin i40, meanwhile, currently retails for around US$270 in Canon and Nikon-mount trim.